AUTO EMISSIONS: CAPTURE THEM?

The theory goes like this: Vehicles would be equipped with a "CO2/H2 Active Membrane Piston (CHAMP) reactor" that would convert hydrocarbon fuels into CO2 and hydrogen.

The vehicle would run on the hydrogen. It would either burn the hydrogen directly or use it in a fuel cell to produce electricity to power the car. Either way the vehicle would produce no emissions at the tailpipe.

CO2 is stored as a liquid until it can be removed from the car, maybe at the same time the vehicle is refuelled. Ultimately, the CO2 would be sequestered. An alternate plan has the CO2 being recycled as synthetic vehicle fuel.

CO2 sequestration, however, is still in test trials and nobody really knows if it is safe over a very long term, though it may be.

Converting the CO2 into synthetic fuel is entirely theoretical except through very energy-intensive, expensive processing.

This is the hydrogen fuel cell/hydrogen economy/hydrogen highway dream in a slightly different guise. It costs more energy than it produces and it creates as many greenhouse gas emissions as it saves.

Until there is an abundance of solar-, wind- or wave-generated electricity, hydrogen and hydrogen fuel cells will be too energy intensive and costly to use. And when carbon-capture-and-sequestration is perfected and there is an abundance of solar-, wind- or wave-generated electricity, it will be cheaper and more efficient to drive electric cars and capture the emissions at the power plants.

Maybe someday science will solve the fuel cell problem but for now it’s just a damned interesting science project.

Like Paul Scott, co-founder of Plug-In America said, “Get your cars on the grid and then clean up the grid.”

Schematic of the concept. (click to enlarge)

Academics propose carbon-capture kit for cars
Lewis Page, February 13, 2008 (The Register via Yahoo News)
and
Carbon Capture Strategy Could Lead To Emission Free Cars
February 11, 2008 (Georgia Tech Press Release)

WHO
Andrei Fedorov, associate professor, Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT); David Damm, PhD candidate, GIT School of Mechanical Engineering; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); US Department of Defense (DoD)

As the arrow at the bottom of the diagram indicates, it is theoretically possible to create SynFuel from CO2 + H2O. Theoretically. But it requires energy. (click to enlarge)

WHAT
Federov and Damm are developing a method of capturing vehicle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions before they escape the car. The concept calls for the emissions to be removed from the vehicle and recycled in synthetic fuel.

WHEN
Not in the foreseeable future.

WHERE
Published in Energy Conversion and Management

WHY
- A plant to turn CO2 into fuel would consume a lot of energy.
- The car would have to haul the CHAMP converter and the converted CO2 around. And maybe a fuel cell.
- Transporting CO2 is better than transporting hydrogen but cars already transport a highly volatile fuel. That’s not the problem.

This is the idea whose time is now. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Professor Federov, GIT: "Presently, we have an unsustainable carbon-based economy with several severe limitations, including a limited supply of fossil fuels, high cost and carbon dioxide pollution…We wanted to create a practical and sustainable energy strategy for automobiles that could solve each of those limitations, eventually using renewable energy sources and in an environmentally conscious way…"
- Damm, GIT: “We had to look for a system that never dilutes fuel with air because once the CO2 is diluted, it is not practical to capture it on vehicles or other small systems…”
- Professor Federov, on what to do with the CO2: "The greatest remaining challenge... will be developing a method for making a synthetic liquid fuel from just CO2 and water using renewable energy sources."